Craig Little named Lakewood Ranch High School principal

Superintendent promotes school's assistant principal to the top position.

By CHRIS ANDERSON

Superintendent Rick Mills did not have to go far in recommending a new principal for Lakewood Ranch High School.

Mills announced current Lakewood Ranch assistant principal Craig Little as his choice to fill the vacant position on Thursday afternoon. The Manatee County School Board will have to approve the choice at its July 22 meeting, but Mills hopes Little will be able to begin training for his new position as principal on Tuesday.

“We are very excited about Craig Little being named principal at Lakewood Ranch High School,” Mills said in a statement. “He is a proven leader at Lakewood Ranch and is in a great position to continue the tradition of excellence at the school.”

Little has been an assistant principal at Lakewood Ranch since 2010, and was named the school’s administrator of the year in 2013 and 2014.

Prior to Lakewood Ranch, Little served as an assistant principal at Johnson Middle School and at Haile Middle School. He has also taught at Lakewood Ranch in the past.

Little and David Marshall, assistant principal at Horizons Academy, were the two finalists for the job and both spoke to faculty, students and parents Wednesday night. Feedback forms were filled out after the community forum and presented to Mills for evaluation.

The position was originally offered to Justin Terry of Texas, but Terry declined on June 11.

Principal Linda Nesselhauf retired after 38 years in June, opening the position.

Little has lofty goals for the high school he will likely lead. He wants to see Lakewood Ranch become a nationally ranked high school.

“You don’t want your staff and students to get complacent,” Little said. “Traditionally we have had some pretty good scores here. But I want to take it to the next level and I know we have the staff and student population to get there.”

Little said the way to get there is to close the gap between the percentage of disadvantaged students who are proficient in reading and math (46.2 percent) and non-disadvantaged students who are proficient in both areas (73.2 percent).

The 27 percentage point gap can be closed, according to Little, by identifying the disadvantaged students and the obstacles they face, use the data to determine the areas that need to be addressed and create safety nets.

Little also said that relationships built and maintained within the school setting are paramount to any success.

“As educators we’re in the business of relationships,” Little said. “There’s no question about it. As an assistant principal I’ve had students who were struggling come in my office and I’ll pull up their grades and I will see D’s and F’s, while one of those classes will have an A.

“I’ll ask the student, ‘Why in Mr. Smith’s class do you have an A?’ They will say, ‘Because he cares. He talks to me. He makes it exciting. He engages me.’ It’s all about relationships.”